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Go diving in India

Keep in mind that you must be guided by your instructors; you must dive where they have scoped out the area. Also, remember that each day’s diving is dependent on the weather, the experience of your instructor as well as your own experience and comfort level with the water.

Diving off LakshadweepMany experienced divers liken diving off Lakshadweep to diving in the Maldives – with its reef sites and isolated island lagoons, Lakshadweep is a little explored underwater gem. One of the best dive sites in the area is Japanese Garden off Agatti Island, which looks like a gorgeous Japanese garden made entirely of coral. Expect to see red snapper, moray eels, grouper, turtles, barracuda, yellowfin tuna, sting and manta rays, or even sharks. The site boasts depths of 18 metres to 20 metres for the most part, and diving is only permitted upto 35 metres, but that’s fine because visibility is a standard 25 metres usually.The closest airport is at Agatti, and October to April is a good time to plan to visit, with February being the best of these months.

West Coast Adventures offers a Discover Scuba Diving course, as well as other advanced courses off Netrani Island. You can go diving from December to February, and the closest airport is in Mangalore, about 160 kilometres from Murudeshwar, your land base for your diving adventure.

Diving off the AndamansSome of India’s best dive sites are clustered around the Andaman Islands. A favourite among experienced divers is Dixon’s Pinnacle, east of Havelock Island. A deep site with three pinnacles, the highest point is at 18 metres, and it bottoms out at about 36 metres.

Dixon’s Pinnacle is a ‘cleaning station’, where big fish come to be cleaned by smaller creatures, so it’s reasonable to expect to see manta rays, grouper and the occasional whale shark, as well as massive schools of fish, leaving swathes of temporary colour everywhere. Johnny’s Gorge is another hot spot with experienced divers, especially for the reef sharks that come calling. If you are a beginner, you will start at Lighthouse and Elephant Beach.

Wherever you dive, you are in for a treat of ocean life - barracuda, giant trevallies, mantis shrimp, turtles, napoleon wrasse, and Durban dancing shrimp are all on the sighting menu. Port Blair is the closest airport to Havelock; it will take another ferry ride of upto three and a half hours to get to Havelock. The best time to dive here is from mid-December to April.

Main photo: Brian Kinney/123RFPhoto used for illustrative purposes only